Brahimi to Consult with US, Russian Officials on Syrian Peace Effort

International envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and officials from Russia and the United States are focusing Thursday on how to push forward the Syrian peace talks, as activists report dozens of deaths in rebel-held areas of Aleppo.

U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has brought the Syrian government and opposition together for negotiations this week, but the process so far has achieved little success.

His discussions Thursday with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov and U.S. Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman are the latest in a series of meetings with the two nations that led the effort to convene the peace talks.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday that government airstrikes killed at least 51 people Wednesday in Aleppo.

The first is Russia's version of a resolution to bring greater humanitarian aid. Lavrov told reporters in Moscow Thursday the second addresses fighting terrorism, which the Syrian government has stressed in the peace talks so far.

"Facts confirming an increasing number of threats from an increasing number of terrorist groups are well-known. We are very concerned by them. That's why we presented to the Security Council - or in this particular case we've just started consultations - one more draft resolution on fighting terrorism in Syria."

Russia objected to a Western-Arab draft resolution on humanitarian aid as one-sided against President Bashar al-Assad's government, and said it would use its veto power to block the measure.